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| Tuesday, 7 January 2003 |
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A case for an Educational TV Authority The Moving Finger by Lionel Wijesiri The focus of programming should not be on the curriculum of the education system, but to be broadened so that all young viewers are afforded the opportunity to acquire life and survival skills in addition to being exposed to the new educational values and principles. In short, the emphasis of programming under the plan should be to empower all our children to interact meaningfully with their natural, social, cultural, political, economic, scientific and technological environments. The majority of Sri Lankan parents seem to be well aware of the need for adequate education for their children and hold positive attitudes to education in general. However, their perception of education is still narrowly focused on school and academic subjects and many have not realized that the focus of educational media is much broader than the academic subjects taught at school. It is in this respect that the Ministry of Education should develop a long-term plan for education through Television media, in conjunction with the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and other stakeholders. There is now a need to transform the education system and our SLRC, as a Public Broadcasting Service, can support this transformation through its programming. The focus of programming should not be on the curriculum of the education system, but to be broadened so that all young viewers are afforded the opportunity to acquire life and survival skills in addition to being exposed to the new educational values and principles. In short, the emphasis of programming under the plan should be to empower all our children to interact meaningfully with their natural, social, cultural, political, economic, scientific and technological environments. US experience Take for example, the US experience. The quasi-government Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), in USA invested heavily in the children's television efforts that produced Sesame Street with "Big Bird.". American efforts were inspired by the distance learning successes of British Open University, University College Dublin, and state ETV efforts in Sweden, among others, and guided by the educational television unit of the European Broadcasting Union. The seeds of industry have been planted. Today, about 240 consortiums of public and private educational and creative enterprises in the U.S. are producing tele-courses, licensed by about a thousand colleges and universities using the material as a regular part of their degree programs. A parallel video production and distribution industry has sprung up serving the staff training and development needs of corporations and businesses worldwide. Nigerian experience Another example is the Nigerian experience. Although Nigeria's national education policy sought to improve educational opportunities for very young children, the country could not afford to fund a traditional program for all of its 13 million pre-schoolers. The Nigeria Development Communications Project therefore planned to use the TV media to teach children aged three to six and instruct their caregivers in active learning techniques. The five-year project designed and produced mass media instructional materials for pre-schoolers and their mothers. To accomplish this, it supported the development of institutions to produce educational television materials and trained television managers and evaluators. Its goal was to reach 4 million pre-schoolers, 36 percent of whom already had access to television. To broaden access, fifteen local government authorities in ten states agreed to supply additional televisions for childcare centres, and televisions were also bought with the project and grant funding. The instructional videos were not only transmitted over the national network; they were also shown from "video on wheels" vehicles and at local viewing centres. In addition to the videos for children and parents, the project team prepared many other videos for pre-school trainers to show them how to identify children's basic needs, how to monitor children's health, how to create an environment for learning and for stimulating children's play, thinking, and expression, and how to make sure children are getting affection and good nutrition. The project was supported by an IDA credit and a combined UNICEF and Bernard van Leer Foundation grant. be responsible The Nigerian venture introduced an inexpensive and highly effective method for improving conditions for young children. As Sesame Street has shown in the United States, nothing is more powerful than TV for getting out the education message. It may be a good idea to create an Educational Television Authority in Sri Lanka to make educational and public television services available to all young Sri Lankan citizens on a coordinated countrywide basis, through the various educational and cultural agencies, under the direction and supervision of the Authority. The Authority should for the operation of the television channels assigned by the Government for educational purposes. In fulfilling its responsibilities, it is the duty of the Authority to seek the advice and counsel of representative citizens of the state. An advisory committee may be organized and selected by the Authority. We now live in a frightened world struggling to cope with the "future shock" caused by so much innovation happening so fast. Television media may be one of the most powerful tools for the enlightenment of our children, so we owe it to ourselves and to our children to consider the social effects of what we do now. Our choices today will make a difference tomorrow. |
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